AGCO’s Support of North American Wheat Harvest an Overall Success

AGCO plays its part to maximize uptime for Custom Harvesters in the field

James Petrich, much like the other AGCO Combine Harvest Support (“Tech Van”) interns, spent his summer months helping custom harvesters and learning as much as he can about Gleaner combines and keeping them out in the field.

Being brought up in a farming family that runs Gleaner combines, James was already familiar with the advantages they had and how they worked. Being able to work on the latest combines, he was able to learn tricks and techniques that he could bring back and share with the rest of his family back at home. During his time there, James worked with people from all backgrounds to learn about electrical diagnosis’ on combines, replacing worn injectors and accelerator rollers, among other more common repairs that has helped him gain a deeper understanding of the support needed to have a successful harvest.

In addition to the technical knowledge that was learned, the interns were able to see the country like most other Americans could only dream about and hear stories from the harvesters that would shock even the extreme. The intern’s experience came with costs—12 hour work days, 7 days per week for three months.

Overall, the harvest this year was a success, even with the drought which struck much of America’s Great Plains. The Tech Van crew noticed that even with increased hours from previous years, combines had superior uptime that helped to lead to a smooth harvest. This superior uptime was attributed to higher quality from the factory and better dealership pre-delivery inspections that when combines give customers the great AGCO experience they expect.

The Tech Van crew will be heading to Kansas soon to help with the final harvest of the year. During the winter months, the crew stays at their base in Hesston, Kansas where they will review the 2012 season and plan ahead for next year.

Going over notes taken from the harvest, they decide on what parts they need to stock in the trailer and clear out parts for combines that are over the 5-year mark to make room for new models. From there, they will start the cycle all over again next Spring in Texas, with the AGCO Combine Harvest Support team leading the way to another successful harvest.